


Hearts on our Sleeves

by unsaid4815



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bisexual Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Bisexual Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Everyone else is aged up as well, F/F, F/M, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Julie and the Himbos, Julie is 18, M/M, Multi, Platonic Soulmates, Post-Season 01 (Julie and The Phantoms), Pre-Season 01 (Julie and The Phantoms), Romantic Soulmates, Slow Burn, Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Sunset Curve is 20, luke's aversion to sleeves, mama ain't no pedophile, this all started because I cannot stop thinking about Jeremy Shada and Charlie Gillepsie's arms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:41:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27201268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unsaid4815/pseuds/unsaid4815
Summary: In a world where everyone is a part of a triad, and all soul marks are tattooed up and down your arms after the first time you and your soulmate touch, 3/4 of Sunset Curve died knowing they'd never even met one of their soulmates and one knew he was leaving his other soulmate behind forever. After a 25-year long crying session, they finally were back in a world that was completely unrecognizable to them. And everything seemed to revolve around this screaming 18-year old with giant slippers on. Who is she to them, where is Alex's old soulmate, where are their families, and what comes next?this is my first fanfic, I can't write fanfiction, but this is basically my take on season 1 of JATP if there were triad soulmates. I'm def going to explore season 2. I am also going to make reggie and luke make out all the time. Sorry, not sorry.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson/Reggie, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters, Julie Molina/Reggie, Julie Molina/Reggie Peters, Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 61
Kudos: 303





	1. Prologue

When the universe was created, the Being that is decided to create people. When They first created a man and a woman, They felt They had done enough. Two would be enough, right? And They were smart, They’d made it possible for the humans to make more humans. They gave one of each gender to a couple so that way things were balanced. This would be perfect, the Being was proud of their work.

Of course, They were proved wrong. First, They didn’t realize that Their system had others options and not everyone was born male or female. Then, They realized that, even though They thought the couple would be enough for each other, not everyone liked people of the opposite gender. There were so many different kinds of relationships that They had never planned on. Even then, when the humans had picked a mate they wanted, so many times the mates ended up having problems that just led to heartbreak because there was never enough of a middle ground. Heartbreak was something They could not handle. These humans were Their creation, and to watch them hurt was too much to bear. The Being decided to start over.

This time, the Being decided that every relationship would be a triad. This meant there would always be a tie-breaker, someone to mediate, or someone to find a new solution. Next, the Being gave everyone a set of tattoos on their arms, in order to help them find who was in their triad. At first touch between a bonded pair, the tattoo would show up. These tattoos had several parts, because the Being wanted to show honor to the different types of love They had witnessed since Their creation came into being:

  1. On each human’s dominant hand was the symbol dedicated to their family. Parents shared the middle finger, siblings were the thumbs, grandparents, and aunts, and so on and so forth shared the other fingers. People who were added into the family, by blood or by choice, shared the palms.
  2. On their non-dominant hand, the symbols of the humans’ support system resided on each finger. The middle-finger always went to the person they relied on most. This person would be their rock, their support outside of their romantic relationships, and their soul partners. The other four fingers were just as important, and the whole hand functioned to make sure that the human always had someone to help them through any situation.
  3. On their elbows, humans had symbols dedicated to their mentors, the people who guided them along their paths. Sometimes, these symbols matched the ones on their hands. Other times, the symbols belonged to teachers or grandparents. Regardless, elbows were used for guiding, and those symbols belonged to guides.
  4. On their shoulders, the humans had their soulmate’s marks. When you needed a shoulder to cry on, you wanted to cry on the shoulder of the person who loved you most, and wasn’t it nice when you had proof you were that to them right where your head lay? The Being had seen hugs, kisses, love, and all types of touching happen on shoulders, and They knew that was where soulmate marks belonged.
  5. On their hearts, every human had their own symbol, their own mark. The Being wanted them to know that the person all humans should love most is themselves.



As time went on, there were still some flaws in the Being’s system. For starters, not everyone ended up with both shoulder marks. Not everyone ended up with shoulder marks at all. Some people’s family hands had no one, while others’ had too many symbols to count. Sometimes, marks would disappear. Usually, this meant someone died. Sometimes, this meant that person had broken the bond the symbols represented. Then again, other times, marks would appear, maybe because a human became close to their soulmates’ parents, or someone became a parent to them more than their biological parents. Some people decided to ignore their marks altogether, and that was okay. The Being wasn’t angry. All They wanted was to make sure Their people knew there WAS a way to happiness, and that they had their hearts on their sleeves whenever the people wanted to use them. The Being was now content to sit back, relax, and watch Their people create. That is, They were content until 1995.


	2. Home is where my horse is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So how did Reggie and Luke meet? Who is in Alex's triad? What does he mean to Luke and Reggie? And why do they die?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so this is my first time writing since I gave myself 6 concussions in two years. I'm really nervous about this, but I'm hoping you all like this. Also, I'm having a panic attack about Amy Coney Barrett and moving so I'm just going to keep writing all night, we'll see what happens.

Luke’s first memory of Reggie was Reggie falling on top of him as Luke walked under the monkey bars during first-grade recess. In most situations, this would have caused Luke to go into one of his famous temper tantrums, pouty face and all (which he remained famous for long after he probably should have grown out of them). However, he was shocked out of this bad mood by the other boy screaming, “OH MY GOD, YOU’RE GLOWING ON YOUR ARM!” Luke looked up to see a terrified six-year-old and said “well, so are you”. What happened next remained one of Luke’s favorite memories for the rest of his life (and afterlife, but that’s later):

In what can only be described as lightning speed, Reggie ripped off his shirt, looked at his now-tattooed shoulder, screamed, and started running off the playground. Still in shock, Luke ran after him, finally catching up once Reggie reached the windows of the cafeteria. Reggie was looking at his reflection, specifically at the giant, blue music note that covered his shoulder. 

“What is happening to my body?”, Reggie cried, furiously trying to wipe away this foreign image on his body.

“Well, that’s my symbol, so I guess we’re soul mates,” Luke explained, taking off his own shirt in the process. “See? Yours is a horse, and now I have one on my shoulder. We’re soulmates.”

“What?”

Luke was confused. Everyone knew about soulmates. Luke had always known what soulmates were. Well, he’d always understood that the Being had given everyone soul markers. Emily had told the story of their tattoos in his bedtime story every night. She explained that his dad’s tattoo was the tree and his pop’s tattoo was the sunflower, and since Emily’s soulmates were his dad and pop, their tattoos went on her shoulders. She told Luke that her tattoo, a clock, was over her heart. His dad always would stick his head in Luke’s room at this point and say “She makes time start and stop with her smile”, to which Luke’s pop would say “Yeah, and you make trees fall with your awful smelling farts”, to which Emily would say, “Boys, enough, you’re going to keep Luke awake”. His fathers would then kiss Luke and Emily goodnight before leaving. The memory made Luke smile as he looked at Reggie.

“Your tattoo. On your chest. See that horse?”

“...yeah?”

“Okay, so the horse is your symbol, and it’s over your heart because it means you should love yourself most, and you should always take care of yourself. And then there’s your middle finger, it has your…”

Luke had been about to say parents because his middle finger was covered in a weird but comforting cake, tree, and sunflower design. However, when he looked at Reggie, he realized there were no tattoos there. Nothing. Both hands were blank.

“Um… don’t take this bad, but you have parents, right?”

Reggie blinked.

“Like, you have a mommy and daddy and a mama or a papa?”

Reggie blinked again. Luke felt uncomfortable. Even at six, he knew that Reggie was supposed to have a tattooed middle finger, but his being blank meant something was really wrong with how Reggie lived at home. He’d bring that up to his mom later.

“Anyway, the Being made us all have soulmates, or different people who help us become good adults. So, the Being decided you and I are going to get married and then They put my tattoo on your shoulder and your tattoo on my shoulder.”

Reggie started at Luke’s phrasing. He looked over at the other boy and, sure enough, his red horse was on Luke’s shoulder. Reggie had never seen anything like this before. His parents didn’t really show any affection, plus they never took off their shirts so Reggie didn’t think he would have seen their shoulders before. His mom and dad didn’t like his horse though. As soon as he was old enough to take baths on his own, his mom stopped bathing him. She said his horse was “an a-bomb-i-bay-shun.”. Reggie didn’t ask her to repeat what that meant because whatever the word was, it was bad. Mom and Dad didn’t like his horse, so Reggie didn’t either. And now, here was his horse on this boy’s shoulder.

Reggie reached out a tentative hand towards Luke’s shoulder, then dropped it. He couldn’t take his eyes off the horse, however.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Reggie said, tears starting to pool in his eyes.

Luke was confused. “What do you mean, this is so cool!”

“Cool? Now you have to have the horse, too!”

“Yeah, and…?”

“My mommy says the horse is an a-bomb-i-bay-shun.”

“What is an a-bomb-i-bay-shun?”

“I don’t know,” Reggie shook his head mournfully, “but whatever it is, it’s really bad, and now you are bad, too.”

Luke didn’t like this. His soulmate was saying that his tattoo was bad, but his mommy said that soulmates were always good, and Luke was going to make sure that this kid knew it.

“Look- wait, what’s your name?”

“Oh, um, it’s Reggie, hi.”

“Hi Reggie, I’m Luke, and your tattoo isn’t bad because it means you’re meant to be with me, and that means we’re going to be best friends forever. So your mommy is mean, and I love the horse.” Luke stuck his bottom lip out and crossed his arms, trying to prove to his soulmate that he meant business. 

Reggie worried his lip. “Forever? Really?”

Luke’s face softened. “Really. That’s why you have my music note, because I’m stuck with you too!”

A grin broke out across Reggie’s face. He looked down at his music note, gently gliding his hand (his blank fingers, Luke noted), across it. 

“Boys! Put your shirts back on! It’s time to go back inside!” Luke’s teacher, Mrs. Ball, yelled across the blacktop. Quickly, the boys put back on their shirts. Luke grabbed Reggie’s hand and pulled him towards their teachers. 

“I’ll see you after school and I’ll tell you more about this, okay?” Luke said.

“Okay,” Reggie replied.

“Don’t forget,” Luke made him promise.

“I won’t!”

As they went their separate ways, Luke smiling, Reggie concentrating on trying to figure out what all of this meant, they both began a journey that would last much longer than either of them expected and would be much more complicated than they wished.

* * *

As the years went on, Luke and Reggie gained more tattoos. A pink ribbon circled the middle finger on their non-dom hands, which they acquired the next recess when Reggie accidentally hit a tall, blonde kid in the back of the head with a kickball. Once Alex’s fingers brushed Luke’s as he handed the ball back, a friendship was formed. Luckily, Luke and Reggie’s symbols became intertwined on Alex’s middle finger, and the trio knew they were meant to be best friends from that moment on (Well, Luke and Alex did, Emily was still working on helping Reggie understand soul marks). 

At fourteen, Alex bumped into Bobby at a church event. When they touched, sunglasses appeared on Alex’s shoulder. These sunglasses proved to be a bump in the road for an otherwise happy childhood. Sure, it was fine for women to be in triads with a partner of the same gender, but, according to Alex’s father, mothers, and priest, it was DEFINITELY not okay for a man. It didn’t help that Bobby never showed Alex his pink ribbon on Bobby’s own shoulder. No matter how hot it was, no matter what they were doing, Bobby never let Alex see his shoulders, and this made Alex even  _ more _ ashamed. If his soulmate didn’t even want to share their marks, how would anyone else?

The same could not be said for their bandmates. As soon as puberty hit, it was hard keeping Luke and Reggie off each other. While they’d always been overtly physical, hormones certainly increased these touches. They couldn’t be in a room together without trying to rip each others’ clothes off. Emily, Mitch, and Kenny (Luke’s dad and pop), made a rule that Alex had to sleep in the middle of them whenever they had a sleepover. They weren’t allowed to have classes together because none of the teachers could keep their attention away from the other. Alex had started calling them Loogie because “every time I see you two together, you make me want to yak”. Their band, Sunset Curve, had two sets of soulmates, but only one pair made sure each song had a harmony line for them to sing while sharing a mic. And while they all took a part in writing music, only one member wrote “Home is where my horse is”. 

There were other developments from the ages of six to twenty. For example, Luke stopped wearing sleeves, even in the dead of winter. He wanted to make sure that Reggie’s horse was always there for him to see, so Reggie always knew how important he was to Luke. Also, Luke knew Reggie thought his arms were hot and who was Luke to keep his boyfriend from what he likes to look at? Reggie didn’t show off his tattoos, but that was also because of his lack of parental support. Reggie’s right hand was still blank. After finding out what was supposed to be there at the age of nine, it was a constant reminder to him that there were people who didn’t approve of soulmates, the tattoos, or anything the Being had made for Their creation. Reggie was coming to accept this, and it definitely helped that his boyfriend/soulmate was  _ constantly _ showing off his mark.

However, no matter how much Luke showed him off to the world, Reggie still was constantly reminded of his blank finger on his dom hand. His parents had decided that tattoos were the work of the devil, and got their tattoos removed. Their decision that love had no place on their bodies meant there was no love in their hearts, and that lack of love meant a lack of a tattoo on Reggie. Luckily, Reggie was loved by Luke’s parents, and his elbows were covered in cake, trees, and sunflowers, making Reggie know he’d always have at least one triad who cared about him.

Another development was Bobby. While Alex said Bobby was his soulmate, he wasn’t anything (according to the Being) to Luke and Reggie. That’s not to say they didn’t like Bobby. They did. Well, Reggie did; Luke thought Bobby was a bit of a dick and wasn’t good enough for Alex. Plus, he could only play the guitar. Sure, rhythm guitar is great, but you know what’s better? Regular electric guitar. And Luke can sing! And write music! What can Bobby do? At this point in Luke’s rants, Reggie would usually stop him, and remind him that They must have put Bobby in Alex’s life as his soulmate for a reason. Who was Luke to argue with the Being?

Apparently, he was exactly who.

* * *

It all started on January 25th, 1995. Sunset Curve was about to make their big break or they’d die trying. Little did they know…

The Being loved rock music. They had a soft spot for any and all rock singers, and the mid-nineties were full of them. They  _ especially _ liked watching Their creations use their gifts to change the world. Luke, Reggie, and Alex definitely were using those gifts. The Being felt their music call to Them, and so, at their first showcase at the Orpheum, the Being was watching from the rafters. As the music drifted up to Them, the Being couldn’t help but notice the chemistry between the lead singer, the bassist, and the drummer. The rhythm guitarist on the other hand, well, They didn’t really see what was happening with him. It was like Bobby wasn’t actually supposed to be there. In fact, it was like Bobby was not supposed to be involved with this group at all.

All of a sudden, it hit Them: Bobby  _ wasn’t _ supposed to be there. In fact, those sunglasses didn’t even belong to Bobby. Bobby had been hiding his shoulders because there was no tattoo of Alex’s ribbon. There were no tattoos at all. The sunglasses belonged to someone else, but that person wasn’t even born yet. Oh no, what had the Being done? They had created these tattoos, these marks, these symbols, as a sign of love, and this was not how the love should be happening. When the Being looked at the lead singer and the bassist, They saw one blank shoulder each, and knew that meant someone was missing from their triad. Again, the Being knew this person wasn’t born yet either, and, at twenty, it was extremely inappropriate for the Being to want them to be dating a baby. The Being had many humans They couldn’t stand, and Stephanie Meyer and her imprinting was one of them. God, who let her do that? They honestly didn’t understand why she couldn’t just let Jacob, Edward, and Bella be a triad, but  _ no _ , she had to be like Reggie’s parents, and believe that soul mates didn’t even exist. Ugh, what was the point of creating eyes if Their creations didn’t even use them to see?

The Being was getting off track. They had to come up with a solution. They knew this band would perform at the Orpheum, but that was not today. In fact, that wasn’t for another 25 years. It was time for Them to get things back on track. They just hoped the boys weren’t  _ too _ scarred from this.

* * *

“ I’m a vegetarian”

Those words, that simple lie, sent Alex spinning. For starters, he knew Bobby wasn’t a vegetarian because he was constantly eating burgers. He ate more than Luke, and Luke one time stuffed an entire pizza in his mouth in under two minutes. Meat was Bobby’s favorite food category, so the fact that he’s lying about it just pissed Alex off. Second, Bobby was lying to get the approval of some girl. He was flirting with someone, right in front of Alex! He  _ knew  _ Alex was gay, they’d talked about it, but he still was doing this? It just didn’t seem right. Finally, and this was the kicker, if Bobby was lying, then he was lying to get out of eating dinner with the guys. That meant that Bobby didn’t want to hang out with Alex. He’d rather flirt with some woman than with Alex. That’s what stung the most. Alex tried not to cry as he watched his soulmate completely ignore him for someone else. 

Luckily, Reggie was there to interrupt.

“Hey, can I get a water really quick?”

Reggie felt a zap on his elbow the second his fingers brushed the bartenders’ as he handed her the shirt. Was there a fly in here? No, that wasn’t it, it was something else, but he’d have to check later. For one thing, he was hungry. For the second thing, he was getting a tingly feeling in his finger, which could only mean that Alex was upset. If Alex was upset, it was up to Reggie to fix it. 

Reggie interrupted Bobby, “So, what did you think of our band?” 

“You guys were amazing,” she gushed. “I’m so happy I got to see you perform! What’s your name?”

“Well, we’re Sunset Curve, tell your-”

“Babe,” Luke interrupted, “She meant your first name. This goon is Reggie, I’m Luke, his boyfriend, and you, my most beautiful bartender, are…?”

Oh, good, Reggie thought, Luke’s on the same page. Wow, this girl is hot, this isn’t actually as hard as I thought it would be-

“Rose,” she replied, breaking off Reggie’s train of thought, “my name is Rose.”

“Rose is a beautiful name, just like you.”

“In fact, here’s a t-shirt, size beautiful.”

“Thanks, I’ll be sure not to wipe the tables down with this,” Rose laughed.

“Yeah, when they get wet, they end up… falling apart” Alex jumped in.

The girl was nice, he could give Bobby that. Alex just wasn’t feeling it. He loved girls, he related to them so much, but he just wasn’t physically attracted to them. He always figured his and Bobby’s third would be another guy, but, yet again, Bobby seemed to be trying to change that.

Bobby interrupted Alex’s musings with a glare. 

“Don’t you guys have to go get some street dogs?”

Alex started. Glaring? Bobby was telling him to go away? Luckily, Luke was there to save the day.

“Yeah, we’re just leaving. Also, he had a hamburger for lunch.” Luke grabbed Reggie and Alex’s hands, leading them backstage and into the alley.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Luke shouted the second the door was opened.

“The smell of Sunset Boulevard?” Alex suggested, knowing he was definitely wrong.

“No, Bobby acting like you don’t exist. Alex, he’s your soulmate, the least he could do is bring you in on his flirting. Like, that Rose girl was  _ hot,  _ but I didn’t just go in on my own, Reggie was there.”

Reggie put a hand to his chest, protesting, “You think I was just  _ there? _ ”

Luke shoved him. “No, you dork, I just meant you were there, actively participating. I only flirt with girls I know you might like, too. That’s the point of a triad, we’re in this together.” Turning back to Alex, Luke continued, “It just sucks that Bobby acts like you’re not a triad, that you’re just attached to him and that’s it. You deserve better Alex.”

In all three of their heads, the same image popped up: the three of them, together, the triad that could have been. They were already best friends, why couldn’t Alex just be with them that way? Luke and Alex had tried hooking up once, but they couldn’t move past seeing each other as brothers. It was just frustrating, especially for Luke and Reggie, when Alex wasn’t being fulfilled in his relationship and the empty spot in their triad seemed perfect for him.

As the boys walked toward their favorite Oldsmobile-slash-hot dog stand, they didn’t feel the wave of energy passing over them. The couple at the hot dog stand did, however, causing them to accidentally spill gasoline on their hot dogs. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t notice. Fortunately for Them, They did. Their plan to pause the boys in time, keep them safe until their true soulmates were ready, had begun. And as much as the Being hated Stephanie Meyer, she did give Them a good idea for what to do about Alex. 

As the boys took a bite of their hot dogs, the Being got Their waiting place ready. The Being made sure Rose put the t-shirt in her bag. The Being awakened the hot dog sellers to the fact that they had poisoned the hot dogs. And then the Being gently lifted Luke, Reggie, and Alex out of their bodies and into Their waiting place, giving them a chance at true happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!


	3. Sunset Swerve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So here's what you missed on Glee- There's this Being and the Being gave everyone a bunch of tattoos all over their bodies so people would know who the important people in their lives were. Your most important tattoos were on your shoulders, and those belonged to your two soulmates. Luke and Reggie met in first grade and had been in love ever since. They met Alex, their best friend, in high school. Alex thinks his soulmate is Bobby. Bobby is a dick. Luke, Alex, and Reggie died after eating bad hotdogs. The Being definitely had something to do with it, and that something definitely has to do with Julie Molina. And that's what you missed on Glee!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I literally don't know how long this chapter is but I'm an elementary school teacher so I am TIRED. This chapter focuses on who Julie is and what has been happening before she meets Ruke and Alex. Thanks for all the positive comments! I'm going to go back to writing chapter 3/4 (depending on whether you include the prologue or not, AO3 makes things weird, and I'll have it done ASAP! Also, sorry if this is written badly, I have very bad insomnia and everything makes me sound delirious.

Julie Molina doesn’t have her soulmates but her hands have definitely gone through it. When you look at her middle finger on her dom hand, you’ll see the beautiful camera and pasteles. Well, you’ll almost see it, Julie doesn’t have that big of hands. But then, right below her fingernail, there’s a faded dahlia. It used to be bright red, and it always made Julie feel special when she looked at it. Unfortunately, it was faded now. When her mom died, all of her family’s tattoos from her faded. They didn’t disappear completely, making Carlos very positive Mom was a ghost and was still around the house somewhere.

Julie’s remaining parents were just as special to her, a fact which she was very grateful for. When her papa met her mom Rose and mama Victoria, he’d initially thought they were sisters, they seemed so in tune with each other. However, Ray soon realized that they were actually just mirrors of each other, and that mirroring made them a well-oiled machine. Victoria was blonde to Rose’s brunette. Rose was thin where Victoria was thick. When they spoke Spanish, Rose’s accent came out subtly, like the feeling of a warm hug. Victoria’s accent was strong, just like her, proudly announcing to everyone her pride in her culture and her pride in herself. When they found Ray, their machine was complete. He was the middle ground they needed, and their children were proof of this.

Julie had her mom’s voice and hair, her mama’s strength and body, and her papa’s heart. She also had her mother’s name as her tattoo, a purple rose covering her chest. Mom had said it was because Julie’s voice was her heart, and since her mom had given her her voice, that must be why They wanted her heart to show it. Carlos, on the other hand, had his mom’s hair and body, his mama’s voice, and his papa’s passion. He had an empty bowl as his symbol, which his mama always said was a symbol of how Carlos was always looking for things to fill up his heart, and the bowl was empty so there was room for everything. They were 18 and 15 respectively, and neither had found their soulmates. However, both were handling this differently.

Carlos didn’t really care. At 15, he was more interested in his YouTube channel than soulmates, and his friend hand was covered in symbols, so he was never lonely. Julie, on the other hand, only had one symbol on her friend hand, purple zig-zags for Flynn. She used to have a girl, Carrie, represented by her own tattoo on Julie’s other fingers, but something happened to Carrie when they reached high school and all of a sudden, Carrie’s symbol was missing from Carrie’s body and they rarely spoke anymore, unless Carrie was saying something mean. With only four symbols on her hands and her music teacher being on her elbow, Julie felt very alone. She couldn’t even feel connected to her mom anymore because after the dahlia faded, it was like Julie’s love of music faded. Even her own tattoo seemed faded as if Julie’s lack of music in her life was causing her to fade away too.

Everyone had different reactions to this. Julie’s music teacher had spent a year trying to keep Julie on her life path, going so far as to submit Julie’s last performance video to several music programs around the country for college. She didn’t want Julie’s life to pass her by and hoped her depression would let her go back to music eventually. Flynn just tried to remain positive, gassing Julie up whenever she could, practically living at her house, and trying to do her best to keep Julie’s life as normal as possible. Carlos was still her annoying little brother, but he did make an effort to share his channel with Julie so that, hopefully, she’d one day decide to sing on it. It was her parents who had the most conflicting opinions on how to help Julie.

Mama believed that they needed to move out of their house. Everywhere they looked, there were memories of Rose. Maybe having space would give Julie the help she needed to move on. Papa disagreed. He felt that Julie just needed to have music again, and then she’d find her joy again. They’d tried therapy for Julie, but besides the new anti-depressants she was on, Julie still wasn’t back to her old self, and Ray and Victoria were so frustrated that they couldn’t figure out how to get their daughter back. It was Ray’s conceding to Victoria’s plan that actually started the process of Julie’s healing.

“Hey disappointment!” Flynn cheered at Julie.

“Hey underacheiver,” Julie replied, getting her books out of her locker.

“So, do you know what you’re going to do today?”

As much as Julie tried to forget, today was the first day of auditions for USC’s music program. Since it was in-state, Ms. Harrison, their music teacher and Julie’s mentor, had arranged for a rep to come to the school and see her seniors who had passed their pre-screen so their auditions could be in a comfortable environment. Today was Julie’s audition. Fortunately, Ms. Harrison’s submission for her pre-screen went over well with the admissions department. Unfortunately, Julie still hadn’t sung since her mom died. This was the most important performance of her life, and she couldn’t even look at a piano without wanting to cry. But Julie couldn’t tell Flynn that. 

Instead, Julie replied, “I’ll know in the moment”.

Flynn hooked their matching fingers together, reminding Julie that she knew her best and was only trying to help. “Are you sure you don’t want to practice in front of me?”

“No, it’ll just make me more nervous. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Alright, if you’re positive.”

Just then, they heard the high-pitched voice of Julie’s former best friend waft over to them. 

“Come to the pep rally tomorrow!”

Carrie had her own dance group called Dirty Candy. She also wrote and recorded all of their music, making them an extremely impressive group. Carrie had gotten permission from the principal, probably because her dad, Trevor Wilson, had just paid for a new auditorium, to use the pep rally as her audition for USC. Julie had no idea what she was doing for her audition and now she was even more nervous because Carrie was going to blow all of the other auditionees out of the water. 

“Ugh, I can’t stand that bitch”

“Flynn!”

“What? She is!”

“Yeah, but she can hear you!”

“Oh whatev-”

“I’m a bitch, Flynn?” Carrie had suddenly appeared in front of the girls, holding the flyers for the pep rally in her hand. 

“Well, if the unnecessary high heels for a public high school fit…”

“Oh shut up, you whore.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“You know what-”

“Guys!” Julie shouted, stepping in between the two, who had gotten closer and closer. “Enough!”

Flynn shot her a look but backed off. Carrie rolled her eyes and shoved a pamphlet in Julie’s face.

“Julie, since you’re going to fuck up your audition today, make sure that you come to my audition tomorrow to see how it’s done.”

Julie didn’t even bother arguing. She just stared at Carrie, who turned around and flounced back to her boyfriend, Nick. Nick, who Julie had had a crush on for three years. Nick, who was _also_ auditioning today with his electric guitar. Nick, who had absolutely no interest in Julie.

“I don’t understand why you don’t just talk to him!” Flynn said, interrupting Julie’s train of thought.

“He’s dating Carrie!”

“Yeah, but they’re not soulmates, so he’s basically free game.”

Yes, Carrie and Nick were not soulmates. Some people didn’t really care about dating before they found their soulmates. In fact, it was encouraged by a lot of parents because they wanted to make sure their children knew how to navigate a relationship before they found their soulmates and probably stayed together with that person for the rest of their lives. That wasn’t really Carrie’s point of view: she didn’t believe in soulmates. Her dad said that someone used to say he was their soulmate, but since Trevor didn’t have any tattoos, that wasn’t possible. Carrie did have a tattoo, but she believed it was just a mistake from her fuck-up mom, who abandonded Carrie on her dad’s doorstep as soon as she could. Sure, having a completely blank com hand sucked, but her friend hand had her Dirty Candy girls and that was all she needed. And, since soulmates weren’t real, it didn’t matter if Nick’s symbol was also on her friend hand. All that mattered was that Nick liked her enough, and he was someone who was sticking around.

Of course, Julie didn’t know all of this. She knew about Carrie’s home life, but that was just from the osmosis that goes on between friends over a long friendship. She assumed the rest, but she was never sure exactly what exactly was going on with Carrie when it came to Nick. She still didn’t know what had ended their friendship, but she always thought it had something to do with whatever made Carrie start dating Nick as quickly as she did. But now wasn’t the time to think about that: now, it was time for Julie to face the music, both physically and metaphorically. She and Flynn linked hands and walked to Julie’s fate.

“Maybe you could clean out the garage, we have no idea where to start.” 

Julie had come home in a feuge. She had bombed her audition, in front of the whole class, too. Then, Ms. Harrison told her that since she didn’t want to play anymore, it made no sense for Julie to spend the last half of her senior year in a program she didn’t want to be in and kicked her out of music. Finally, her dad had announced the realtor was putting their house on the market and was asking Julie for help getting the house ready. She knew Mama and Papa wanted to move for her, and maybe it would be good, but nothing scared Julie more than going into their garage. The studio had been her and Mom’s special place, and Julie had avoided it for a year for a reason. What if the studio was just as faded as her family’s dahlias? What if it had faded as much as she had?

“Sure, maybe I’ll do it tonight.”

As her father left for Carlos’ baseball game, Julie decided to finish her homework. At this point, she didn’t even know if she had any chance of going to college, but she at least had to put in a little bit of an effort for her mama and papa. If Mama saw her slacking, Julie would definitely be hearing about it for the next few years. So, for now, homework was a priority. She’d see next year what she could do to get Mama off her back. 

After several pages of APUSH homework, Julie was finally as ready as she’d ever be to go to the garage. She put on her favorite monster slippers, hoping they would provide her some protection from the pain she knew she was about to experience. As she walked down the path towards the garage, Julie felt a tingling on her shoulders, something she’d never had before. It was like something was happening there, but when she looked under her sweatshirt, nothing had changed. Her shoulders were still blank, Julie was still alone. 

As she got closer to the garage, the tingling grew. Something was calling her to the loft of the garage, and since it kept her from going anywhere near her and her mom’s piano, Julie followed the call. Her eyes were greeted by a bunch of dusty instruments; there was a drum kit, a piano, a bass, and a guitar. Next to them, there was a CD. What was surprising about this was one, Julie had never seen this CD again, and she’d spent almost every free moment in this studio for seventeen years. Two, Julie had never heard of the band Sunset Curve. Why was there a CD for a band she’d never heard of in her mom’s garage?

On a normal night, she might have put the CD away and kept cleaning. On a normal night, Julie may have taken all of the instruments down from the balcony, listed them on eBay, and moved on with her life. On a normal night, she’d have left the CD alone. However, tonight wasn’t a normal night. The tingling hadn’t stopped in her shoulders, and now her mom’s tattoo was tingling as well, something it hadn’t done for far too long. It was like her mom was asking her to play the CD. After letting her mom down with her audition, didn’t she at least owe her mom a listen to this CD? Luckily, Papa hadn’t thrown out the CD player yet, no matter how much Mama said it was useless. As Julie put the CD in the player and pressed play, the tingling suddenly stopped. 

_Take off, blast off…_

As the opening chords began, Julie couldn’t help bopping her head along to the music, the first time she’d even been entertained by music since her mom’s death. She was just starting to smile when a different noise started coming through the speakers. At first, Julie thought this Sunset Swerve had decided to add a screaming track into their song. As the screaming got louder, however, Julie knew that couldn’t be it. It seemed to be coming through the ceiling. As she lifted her eyes, there was a bright flash…

....and suddenly, there were three hot guys on the floor of her garage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's the deal: I have this thing where I think the reason why Carrie is so mean to Julie in my story is that Carrie is ace and wanted so badly to not be that she got mad at Julie that Julie couldn't make her have "those" feelings. She loved Julie more than anyone, why couldn't she like her in any other way? So the thing is, I think Alex and Willie are going to be sexual partners, but I kinda want Carrie to be the third in their triad. In my story, Alex would be homosexual, biromantic, Willie would be biromantic and bisexual, and Carrie would be biromantic and asexual. However, I'm only bisexual and biromantic, so I don't want to be completely incorrect on relationships for ace people nor do I want to erase Alex's sexuality. I don't think I am, but if you have any thoughts, feel free to comment. I have a backup for the third in Alex and Willie's triad (obviously it's not Bobby, fuck Bobby), but I just think Carrie and Alex and Willie would be such a happy home together where they all love each other equally, Carrie never has to have sex, Alex can love a girl without having to have sex with her, and Willie can have two people to shower with adoration. But, like I said, sexuality is nuanced so I wanted opinions.


	4. AHHHHHHH

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So here's what you missed on Glee: In 1995, 20-year-olds Reggie and Luke are soulmates (tattoos are a red horse and a blue music note respectively). Their best friend is Alex (pink ribbon tattoo) who thinks his soulmate is Bobby but the Being isn't so sure. They ate some bad hotdogs and now they're dead. Meanwhile, in 2020, 18-year-old Julie Molina (tattoo is a purple rose) doesn't have a soulmate. She does have a best friend, Flynn, and a Mama (Victoria, not her aunt anymore), a papa, and a brother. She used to also have a mom, but her mom died a year ago and now Julie can't play music like the two of them used to together. She ended up failing at her audition to the University of Southern California. When she came home, her dad asked her to clean out her mom's studio. There, she played an old CD she found. Suddenly, three hot guys popped into existence on her floor. And that's what you missed on Glee! 
> 
> Coming up: Julie meets her soulmates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K, so first off, thank you everyone for the suggestions! Carrie will be in a queerplatonic relationship with Alex and Willie, but I will show you all that later. For now, it's time for my OTP to meet! I'm not about the slow burn where people don't talk to each other, because not talking is not a good basis for a relationship. This slow burn is more about working through the fact that they can't touch. Anyway, sorry it took me a bit to update, but I hope you like the chapter! (Also, thanks to my bff for watching JATP with me tonight and reading this before I posted)

“AAHHHHHHH”

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH”

Years later, Julie could not believe those were the first words she shared with her boys. In the moment, however, all she could think was “DEMON!” and it was all she could do to remain upright as she sprinted back to the main house.

After a frustrating few minutes of trying and failing to get her papa to follow her into the garage to exercise the demons, Julie took matters into her own hands. Taking her Mama’s cross off the wall of her bedroom, she slowly but surely made her way back down the path toward the garage. The Being would protect her from the demons, she knew it. Not for the first time that day, Julie was completely incorrect about the Being’s intentions.

* * *

“Well, we’re all a little crazy,” the cute one with the shaggy hair said.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

“Stop doing that! Fuck, why is she so loud?”

“Maybe she’s a banshee?”

“Banshees don’t exist, Reginald.”

“Well, I thought ghosts didn’t exist, but here we are, Alexander!”

“Guys-”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY MOM’S STUDIO?” Julie screamed.

“Your _mom’s_ studio? This is _our_ studio!” shaggy-haired one said. Annoyingly, that tickle came back to Julie’s left shoulder as he spoke, but since this was obviously a demon, Julie ignored it.

“The hell it is, you better get out or I’m calling the cops,” she spit back.

“I’m telling you, this is _our_ studio! This is my couch!” At this, shaggy-hair flopped onto said couch and seemed unlikely to move again. Black-haired one sat down on his lap and started fiddling with shaggy-hair’s fingers. Hopefully, these demons had names, or else it was going to be pretty difficult explaining to Father Michael who he would be performing the exorcism on.

“Okay, you’re not helping, let someone with a gentler touch handle this,” Blondie said, turning to her, “Hi, I’m Alex, this is Reggie and Luke. Luke’s the one on the bottom who keeps saying this is his studio and Reggie is the one on top of him. We’re in a band called Sunset Curve-”

“Tell your friends!” Black-hair- Reggie interrupted. There was that tickle again, but now it was on her right shoulder. What was happening with Julie’s body?

“Shut _up!_ Anyway, we were supposed to play at the Orpheum last night but we had some bad hotdogs and I’m pretty sure we died and now we’re ghosts.” The tickle was still there! But now it was on her friend hand? Was Flynn in trouble?

Julie could not believe what was going on. First, three guys drop into her mom’s studio, a place she hadn’t been to in a year. Second, her body couldn’t stop tingling. And now, these boys were ghosts? This couldn’t be real. Of course, Julie did the only thing she could think of.

Luke suddenly appeared in front of her. “What’s that, what are you doing?” In response, Julie jammed her cross into his body. Instead of making him dissolve like it _should_ have, all the cross (and Julie’s hand) did was pass straight through his body. Okay, so definitely not demons, but ghosts can’t be real, can they?

“Googling ‘Sunset Swerve’”, Julie snipped back. Why was she so annoyed with these guys?

“Sunset Curve!” Luke and Alex protested.

“What’s googling?” Reggie asked.

“Look, there’s no such thing as cute ghosts, so I’m looking you up.”

“Oh, you think we’re cute?”

The tingle came back, stronger now in her left shoulder, as a blush flared up her face. Just then, her eye was caught by the article on the top of her search.

“Oh my-”

“What?”

“There was a Sunset Curve and you did die but you died in 1995. It’s 2020.”

The boys froze. If she wasn’t still shocked that there were three dead guys in her garage, she’d definitely think their faces were cute. But she couldn’t get past the fact that they were dead, they were definitely ghosts, and they were basically forty-five.

“It’s… it’s been 25 years?” Alex put his hands on Luke’s shoulders and started shaking him. “I HAVE BEEN CRYING FOR 25 YEARS?”

“Well, you’re a very emotional person!” Reggie tried to comfort him.

“I am not!”

Reggie and Luke glanced at each other. The thing was, Alex _wasn’t_ that emotional of a person. Yes, he had been crying in the place they all had been for the past hour, but so had they. But the difference was that Luke and Reggie had each other. Bobby didn’t come with them. Alex was alone. So, even though it had only seemed like an hour for them, Alex _had_ been crying for twenty-five years. Luke couldn’t blame him. If Reggie was left behind, Luke would _still_ be crying. Reggie didn’t even want to imagine it.

“Look-” Julie’s interruption startled the boys. They’d been so focused on their jump into the future that they’d almost forgotten the girl in front of them. They turned back to her. “I’m really sorry for what happened to you, but you need to leave my mom’s studio. We’re moving and I really need to clean out all of the junk in the loft. I’ve had a really bad day and an even worse year and I don’t know how to help you so please just go somewhere else.”

The boys finally really looked at the girl. And that’s when their own tingles started. Alex’s middle finger, which already had Reggie and Luke’s intertwined tattoos, felt like a bunch of lady bugs were crawling all over it. However, it was the other boys’ shoulders that were truly on fire. They were so young when they’d found each other, the boys almost forgot what it felt like to see your soulmate for the first time. However, Luke remembered what his mom had said when he was little, that the first look is like seeing the light for the first time. With Reggie, all the lights had turned on. When Luke finally saw Julie, it was like every single light bulb had 500 extra watts. 

He glanced at Reggie, to see if his hunch was right. Reggie was staring right back at him. After almost 15 years together (well, five years of a romantic relationship, ten years of a platonic relationship), they could read each other extremely well. In both of their eyes were the words “It’s our third”. They smiled, finally feeling like their missing piece was about to be fit into their puzzle. They wanted to finish it as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, as they turned back to the girl, they realized she’d already left the garage. Luke panicked. He felt a tug in his stomach and, suddenly, he was standing in front of Julie, right outside of the garage. Okay, he’d definitely have to figure out how that happened later.

“Wait!” As he said this, the girl screamed, probably because he’d just shown up in front of her. “Stop screaming! I just want to know what your name is!” 

“It’s Julie,” she said. She then pushed past him and disappeared into her house.

Julie. What a perfect name.

* * *

“You felt that, right?”

“You mean like my shoulder was on fire? Yeah, of course I felt it!”

“Dude, do you know what this means?”

“Bro, we found our third!”

Luke and Reggie were skipping in a circle around each other, overjoyed that their triad was complete at just 20 years old. Alex, on the other hand, was not so happy.

“Guys, calm down!”

“Alex, come on, we just met our third!”

“Yeah, I can tell,” Alex replied, “but I think you’re forgetting something: we’re dead! We don’t even know her name!”

“It’s Julie!”

Reggie broke out into a dreamy grin, “Julie, that’s so pretty, like her hair, her hair is so pretty. Luke, she said we’re cute! Do you think she was talking about me? Please say she was talking about me.”

Luke laughed, “Of course she was! Who wouldn’t think you’re cute? You’re the cutest, sexiest, smartest guy I know, she must have already seen that.”

“Oh you think I’m sexy, do you?”

“Well, duh!”

Reggie walked in a lot closer to Luke and put his arms around Luke’s neck. “Well, lucky for me, I have an equally sexy boyfriend.”

Luke leaned in to begin what was sure to be a steamy makeout session when Alex interrupted.

“As fun as it always is to watch you two mack on each other, we really need to figure out what we’re going to do. Julie just kicked us out. We have nowhere to go. Plus, it’s 25 years after we died, we know literally _nothing_ about the world now.”

Reggie removed his arms from Luke’s neck and turned back to Alex. “Julie seems nice! And pretty. And-”

“Anyway,” Luke interrupted, “She also said she’s having a really bad day. Maybe if we follow her we can figure out why and then we can help?”

Alex nodded, “I mean, that’s something. And, yes, she is pretty, Reggie, but please remember that you are dead and she’s not.”

This sobered Reggie and Luke right up. They knew from the tingling in their shoulders that Julie was special to them, but they were dead, and what did that mean for the three of them? Maybe following her would help them figure it out. Or, at least, it would let them see her again.

* * *

“Aaaaaah!”

Why was it that these boys made it impossible for Julie to react normally? She’d already made sure they were ghosts, so why did it surprise her that they could walk into her house? Of course, now she’d made Mama look at her funny, so she made some excuse about “ripping off the bandaid”, hoping no one would notice her casting furtive glances over to the front door. Carlos laughed, so she was pretty sure her excuse worked.

Her mama, papa, and brother started talking about their upcoming move which gave Julie a second to observe the boys a little closer as they walked around her house, touching things and being generally disruptive (at least, they were to Julie, no one else could see them and so they missed out on Reggie repeatedly trying to figure out what a pasta arm was). Alex seemed normal. He had a fanny pack and a backwards baseball cap. Honestly, he’d probably fit in really well on the lacrosse team at school. He just looked so normal and easy going. If he wasn’t dead and interrupting her life, she’d probably like hanging out with him. It was a plus that he only made her friend hand tickle.

When it came to Luke and Reggie, however, Julie felt like her whole body was on edge. If the stories her mama told her were true, this would mean that they were her soulmates. But that couldn’t be possible, right? They were dead. She couldn’t have dead soulmates. She wasn’t even attracted to them! Sure, Reggie had this naturally pouty mouth that just seemed like he was waiting for someone to kiss him. And Luke had these huge brown eyes that she could feel herself sinking into, even when he wasn’t looking at her. And they both were _just_ tall enough that she would feel tiny next to them but short enough that she could hold their hands comfortably. And they had these tight jeans that showed off their asses which were definitely something Julie wanted to hold...okay, she was a little attracted to them. But that was besides the point; they were definitely dead. Julie didn’t have dead soulmates. And she certainly didn’t have dead soulmates who were currently telling her that they loved what she did with her house.

“You shouldn’t be here!” Julie yelled.

“Mija, I’m just trying to help!” her mama replied.

“No, sorry, I meant, you should be at pilates! You’re already dressed!” 

“You’re right, but I want to talk more about what you’ll do now that you aren’t going to music school for college.”

Her father dropped his fork. Carlos choked on his water. The ghosts froze in their positions. Music school? Julie was into music? 

“You got the email from her music teacher today, right?” 

Her father rubbed his face. “Yes, I was planning on discussing it with Julie while you were at pilates.”

“Alright, make sure you do that. Carlos, I want you to finish your homework while I’m gone, alright?”

“Yes, mama,” Carlos rolled his eyes at Julie. While Mom had been much more laid back, Mama was their uptight parent, and she couldn’t go anywhere without giving everyone at least twenty directions. 

“Julie, when I get home, we’ll discuss other college options. I think math is definitely going to be a strong option for you.”

“Yes, Mama.”

With that, Victoria kissed Ray goodbye, blew kisses to her kids, and flounced out the door to pilates. The boys followed after her, probably to go torment someone else as much as they had already tormented Julie.

“So, Julie, wanna hear about my almost home run at baseball today?” Carlos said.

“Nice try, go watch some tv while you finish dinner, I need to talk to Julie,” their papa replied. Carlos gave Julie a sympathetic look before taking his plate into the living room. Julie took a deep breath and turned to her father.

“I promise, Papa, I was planning on telling you after dinner, I know how important this audition was to you.”

“To me? Mija, this audition was important to you! You and your mom spent _years_ talking about USC’s music program and how you’d go there. You always wanted this! What changed? What made my daughter stop singing? Stop playing piano? Stop living?”

“Dad!” Ray started. Julie never called her father dad. “I just don’t like music anymore, okay? Music isn’t fun. All it does is remind me of Mom and I can’t take that.”

“But, Julie, I thought we talked about this; if something reminds you of Mom, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. I know your mama keeps saying that we need to move on and stop talking about her as much, but I love talking about your mom. Every time I see you and Carlos, I see her. Every time I see your mama and my shoulders, I see her. Every time I hear music, I see her. And all of those times, I smile, because I know she’s there watching over us.”

“Well, maybe she’s watching over you, Dad, but she’s not watching over me. I can’t even play anymore.”

Tears started to pool in Julie’s eyes. It hurt her to talk to her papa like this, but she couldn’t explain why it was so painful for her to play and sing anymore. It felt like her soul was ripping in half every time her fingers so much as touched a piano. How could she sing when it hurt so much? Just then, music started rumbling through the house. 

“What the hell was that?” Carlos said, running back into the kitchen.

Thinking quickly, Julie told her father and brother that she left the stereo on. She got up from the table and sprinted back to the garage, determined to find out what was going on with these ghosts that had decided to infiltrate her house.

* * *

“We may be dead but our music isn’t!” Reggie cheered once Julie explained to him and his bandmates that their music was disturbing the neighborhood. He couldn’t believe it. Their whole lives were dedicated to music, and now their afterlives could be, too? Reggie didn’t think this normally happened to ghosts, or else he definitely would have heard of it by now, but it sure was cool that it was happening to Sunset Curve.

“Well your music needs to be dead quiet, everyone on the block can hear you and I thought I told you to leave!” 

Julie stormed out. It was bad enough that these ghosts had come into her life on the worst day she’d had in a year, but the fact that they played music too? It was too much for her to handle, and all she wanted was to get away. She only made it up a few steps, however, before Luke was popping up in front of her again.

“Look, I know you’re having a bad day but-”

“A bad day? Try a bad year. First, my mom dies. Then, I can’t play music anymore because every time I play a piano, I see her dahlia on my finger and I’m reminded she’s gone and it’s like she’s dying all over again. Then my teacher submits me for a music scholarship to USC without my permission which was really nice of her but also, I’m pretty positive, _illegal_ , and I got an audition for their music conservatory but THEN I failed my audition because, yet again, I cannot play the piano. Then, I come home and my dad is putting my house up for sale which I know he’s only doing because my mama says I need to move on and she thinks this house is keeping me from doing that. So he asks me to come into the garage, which I haven’t been into in a year because it was my mom’s studio, and then three hot ghosts show up? And two of you are making my shoulders ache which means you must be my soulmates except you’re dead which means this has to be a joke. And if it isn’t a joke, that’s just the cherry on top of my already awful year. So, yes, I’m having a bad day, and I really need you to go because I just can’t handle any more of this.”

Luke stared at her. Julie took a deep breath in and realized her word vomit had probably terrified this stranger and now he would definitely leave (and she honestly wasn’t positive she actually wanted him to). There was a sound behind her and Reggie moved into her peripheral vision. He grabbed Luke’s hand and the two of them had a conversation with their eyes. She almost wished she could be a part of it, but all she wanted right now was to be left alone so she could go to bed and never think about music again.

“Julie,” Reggie started, “we’re so sorry, we didn’t know.”

“You couldn’t have-”

“No, but we’re still sorry this is all happening. I didn’t have the best relationship with my mom, but I can’t imagine it would be easy seeing her tattoo every day when you try to do the thing you shared together. If Alex stopped being my friend, and I saw his pink ribbon during band practice, I don’t think I’d be able to play the bass either. So I get why you don’t want to play music anymore.”

“But Julie, you have to see that this isn’t what your mom wanted,” Luke added, “she was such a talented musician and writer, she wrote music just for you to play! Giving that up is like giving up on life!”

“I’m not giving up on- wait, how did you know that she wrote music for me?”

Reggie handed her some pieces of paper. “Luke found this on the piano. It was written by her, right?”

Julie looked down. There, in her hands, were her mom’s words. Her mom had written her one last piece of music. It had been on her piano for a year, and these boys just happened to be the ones to bring it to her attention? The Being had to be involved in this.

“I-” She couldn’t speak. She didn’t even know what to say. How do you say thank you for something you aren’t even sure you want without being insincere?

“Julie,” Luke began, “We understand that this year has been awful, and we can’t imagine we’re making it any easier. But, music is so important to you, and it’s important to us. We just found out that people can hear us, they can actually hear us play! That’s something we can’t give up. And I get that us being your soulmates, which we definitely felt too, is hard, but asking us to stop playing our music is taking away even more of our soul. Julie, we’ll leave if you really want us to, but please don’t ask us to stop playing.”

Reggie squeezed Luke’s hand, a movement that Julie caught out of the corner of her eye. She tried to process what they both had said: first, her mom was still surprising her with music. Second, these boys were her soulmates, and they knew it, too. Third, her asking the boys to stop and leave was making them feel like they had to stop making music entirely. It was time to take a deep breath and try again.

She looked at Reggie and Luke. “Look, I don’t want you to stop playing music. That’s not what I mean. I just don’t know if I’m ready and able to process this. I want to make sure I’m ready when I start hearing and playing music again. I don’t even know what led me to play your CD, I haven’t even listened to Spotify-”

“What is a spoty-fi?” Reggie interrupted.

“It’s a place to get music online but that’s not the point, I’ll explain it later-”

“Later?” Luke looked hopeful.

“Yes, later, because I don’t think I want you to leave. I’m not sure yet how much I can hang out with you, but you guys are more than welcome to stay in the garage. There’s a bathroom out back if you need that-”

“I call the shower! I just really like taking showers, and the occasional bath.”

Luke and Julie just stared at Reggie.

“What?

“Anyway, I appreciate you guys finding this song for me, and I appreciate what you said. I’m going to go to bed, but, I don’t know, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

The boys reached out to touch her, but their hands just passed through her shoulders. They all sighed. Julie raised a hand, waved goodbye, and walked back to her room. It wasn’t until she took off her shirt that she saw the faint shadows of a music note and a horse. How those shadows got there, she wasn’t sure but she knew that it was a sign that maybe not everything was falling apart for Julie. Maybe, just maybe, things were going to start getting better. For the first time in a year, Julie fell asleep with a smile on her face, holding her shoulders and dreaming of two smiles attached to brunettes. 

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the garage, Luke and Reggie gleefully told Alex that they got to stay in the studio permanently. They explained what Julie was going through and Alex told them he understood, though he was a little confused why they thought sheet music would help Julie. Then again, he wasn’t her soulmate so how would he know? That’s when Alex looked down at his finger. There was a faint shadow of a flower on his middle fingernail. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it was definitely there. So, maybe Julie was someone important to him, too.

As he, Luke, and Reggie walked down Hollywood Boulevard, Alex thought a bit more on what his life was like now that he was a ghost, and what this human would change about it. Just then, a man bumped into him as Alex walked past. When he turned to confront him, the man just tipped his hat at Alex and disappeared. Freaky.

“Come on Alex!” He shook it off and ran back to his friends. That was another question for another day. Tonight was dedicated to embracing the music they found they could have again.

* * *

The next morning, Mama, Papa, Carlos, Alex, Reggie, and Luke all heard Julie sing for the first time in a year (and, for three of them, for the first time ever). The Being smiled down at the house, noting that, for the first time in twenty-five years, things might just start going right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you soon! LMK what you think! Also, it pissed me off that Julie was so annoyed at the boys, so I wanted to give her justification for why she's in such a pissed off mood.


	5. Waking Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So here's what you missed on Glee: everyone in the world has two other soulmates, they are triads. Soulmate tattoos go on your shoulders. Sometimes, the soulmates are platonic, sometimes they're romantic, but whoever they are, they are the most important people to you. You also have your friends on one hand, your family on the other, and your elbows belong to your mentors. Reggie and Luke are soulmates and their best friend is Alex. They have a red horse, a blue music note, and a pink ribbon respectively. They died in 1995 at 20 after eating bad hotdogs. They were brought back to Earth in 2020 by Julie Molina, 18, who has a purple rose on her heart. She is definitely Ruke's third, but they're dead. She's also pissed cause she messed up her USC audition. However, after some prompting from Ruke, Julie lets the boys stay in her garage. They give her a song her mom wrote for her. Julie sings it, singing for the first time in a year. And that's what you missed on Glee! (I do these chapter summaries like this because I always forget what I'm reading about, sorry bout it)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a few days! I just moved so things have been crazy but I wanted to give you all a quick chapter! Hope you like it! This chapter is dedicated to my gallbladder less bff. Sorry you're dying, hope this entertains you while you take your meds.

The glow emenating from Julie couldn’t just be coming from the sunrise. It was like her soul was a light bulb and couldn’t be dimmed by the constraints of her body. Of course, Julie couldn’t see this. All she could see was her mom’s last message to her: Julie could do anything. Her mom wasn’t there to hold her through the pain, but she was still alive. She was still strong. She was still there. It was like a gate opened up inside of her, a gate that had been bottling up every emotion she had hidden for the past year, and suddenly all of that pain and hurt broke through. She finally, finally, _finally_ started to cry, and the tears felt like the rain after a drought. Just then, she heard a movement behind her. Julie whipped around and caught her new garage guests in what looked like a fistfight. Wait, that wasn’t it, but Julie couldn’t tell what was happening.

“Julie,” Reggie breathed. “That was…”

“Incredible!” Alex gushed, “Why didn’t you tell us you could sing like that? Julie, that was amazing!”

Julie tried wiping her tears away, but she wasn’t fast enough for Luke. “Guys, shut up, she’s crying!”

“Oh, you’re just not good at dealing with people crying, I should know, I cried for 25 years and you didn’t give me a single hug.”

As Reggie’s arms wrapped around Alex’s waist, prompting a smile from the latter, Luke started spluttering. “That’s not it! I just- Julie, that was amazing, you’re amazing, but if you want some alone time, that’s totally okay, we get it. I know your mom wrote that, that must have been- I mean- wow.”

Julie gave him a watery smile, “No, I mean, yeah, that was hard, but no, I don’t think I want to be alone.”

Alex attempted to hug her, but his arms just passed right through her, just like Luke and Reggie had the night before. However, there was a difference: the glow around Julie seemed to flow into her middle fingers. For Alex, his middle finger on his friend hand started shimmering. On Julie’s friend hand, a pink ribbon faintly started to wrap it’s way around Flynn’s zig zags. On her dom hand, her mother’s dahlia became brighter, not as bright as it had been when she was alive, but certainly not as gray as it had been the past year. On Alex’s middle finger, a purple outline of some type of flower he couldn’t recognize showed up on his fingernail. All four sets of eyes were trained to the outstretched hands in front of them.

“What- what was that?” Reggie asked.

“I mean, this happened last night, too, didn’t you guys see? My shoulders have some faint red animal and this blue music note? Idk, I thought you guys would have noticed. It’s not all the way there because, well, we haven’t actually touched, but there’s def something there that wasn’t there before.” 

At this, Luke and Reggie looked at each other, nodded, and then proceeded to rip off their shirts. Alex rolled his eyes at their dramatics, but Julie couldn’t keep from biting her lip. Fuck, they weren’t just cute, they were hot, too? Reggie had this soft, gentle body that she just wanted to melt into. His arms and pecs were what drew her attention most, however. She wanted to use his chest like a pillow. She wanted those arms wrapped around her tight. And then there was Luke. All she could see was his abs and his pecs and his arms. Oh, to be sandwiched between his and Reggie’s bodies, she would probably die and go to heaven. She could just imagine them squeezing her between them, pushing them into their hard chests and Reggie’s tummy and Luke’s abs and their hands running up and down-

“Reggie! Look! There’s something purple on your shoulder!”

“Dude! There’s one on yours, too!”

“She is our soulmate!”

“Yes!”

“Dude!”

“Dude!”

“Enough!” Alex interrupted. “Julie, what does this mean?”

“I don’t know, I’m just as confused as you. I’ve never heard of someone having dead soulmates, and it seems like I have three. I’ve also never heard of ghosts, so there’s that.”

“I have so many questions, I don’t even know where to start.”

Just as Julie and Alex were about to begin discussing these changes in their lives (ignoring Luke and Reggie, who were simply tracing each other’s purple outlines on their shoulders), the garage door was thrown open.

“Julie!”

* * *

“I’m not letting you throw away your career! We’ve spent our whole lives planning on going to USC together and you’re just going to give that up?”

“Flynn-”

“No! I’m talking! I took an addy and a Red Bull at 4 am this morning and you are going to listen to me!”

“Flynn, what have I told you about taking medicine not as prescribed?”

“That is not the point! Julie, I know how hard this has been, and I know how hard you’ve been trying for all of us, but you can’t give up. I can’t let you give up. You need to come back and wake up because it’s time for you to sing again. You can’t take away your talent from the world, Julie, that would be like taking away Christmas, and I love Christmas. Oh my god, I have such a bad headache, do you have coffee?”

Julie blinked. Flynn on any type of stimulant was a journey, but definitely an interesting one. “Okay, first off, you’re getting no more caffeine today. Second off, I sang this morning. I _am_ singing again.”

“What!?” Flynn shrieked. Alex winced, and the sound made Luke and Reggie finally realize they weren’t alone in the room. Of course, their return to the world made Julie look at them again, which made them look at her. Her blush returned as she felt the heated glances on her, bringing her back into her fantasies of Reggie and Luke’s bodies sandwiching her in between them. Of course, the boys saw her blush as she gazed at their chests, which made Reggie blush and Luke just smirk. 

“Julie, what the fuck? You sang?”

Julie shook her head and came back to Flynn. “Yes, which I was trying to tell you when you barged in here, and I’m going to try and get a second chance at my audition today. I’m not giving up, you’re right. My mom wrote me this song and I found it last night. It’s- Flynn, it’s like she was here with me when I sang it. And I just realized that I’d been spending all this time trying to ignore the pain when I needed to use it to help myself feel better.”

Flynn beamed. “Jules! I’m so happy for you! And I can’t wait to hear this song. You should go back to the USC people and sing it for them!”

“I don’t know, I don’t think I can audition again.”

“Julie!” Three voices cried out, though only one belonged to the living, and two she ignored for the time being.

“You can’t give up!” Flynn continued, “You are meant to be there, and once they hear you sing, USC will know it too.”

“Come on, Julie, you have to at least try!” Reggie chimed in. Luke nodded emphatically.

“Okay, I can at least try.” Flynn and the boys cheered, though of course, Flynn couldn’t hear her echoes. She grabbed Julie’s hand and pulled her out the door. Julie had just enough time to wave behind over her shoulder before she was gone.

* * *

The boys had been alone for a total of five minutes and it felt like Julie had been gone forever. Since they had nothing else to do, Alex had started seeing if anything besides their instruments was left behind, which led to a trash bag falling from the loft to the floor.

“I found our old clothes!” Alex shouted.

“Sweet! Ugh, same clothes since ‘95 boys…” Luke said, ripping off his tank. Yet again, this meant Luke was shirtless, which, of course, did many things to Reggie’s mind. He couldn’t take his eyes off Luke as he changed, smiling at his favorite person. Reggie loved Luke for so many reasons, and most of them had nothing to do with his body, but he couldn’t deny that Luke’s arms and abs were maybe his favorite sights in the. If Alex wasn’t here, he would definitely take advantage of his shirtless boyfriend, and he might have done regardless if someone didn’t walk through him at that very moment.

“Woah,” both Ray and Reggie said. There was a tickle on Reggie’s hand but he ignored it in favor of the full-body reorganization he seemed to be going through. It was like every part of his body that Ray had touched had separated and was now trying to come back together. For Ray, he just felt a full-body chill, something that he didn’t usually get in Los Angeles, even though it was January.

“So, how have you been?”

Reggie was shocked, “Um, actually, not so great. See, we ate these bad-”

“Julie sang for the first time today, she hasn’t done that in almost a year. You would have loved it.”

“I know, we were- oh, he’s not talking to me, is he?”

Luke laughed, “You are so lucky you play base, dude.” Reggie winked at his boyfriend before turning back to Ray. 

“I’m sorry I haven’t been in here for a while, it just- it hurt to be here. You died, and then it felt like I lost Julie, too. She couldn’t come in here, and every time I did, I just saw all of the happy times we had in here together and it hurt so deeply.”

Reggie heard a sniffle from in front of him. After 14 years, he knew exactly what that sniffle meant. “Oh, Luke…”

Luke waved him off, wanting to listen to Ray more.

“Victoria thinks we should just move. And I get it, I do, because maybe it’ll help bring Julie really back. But, if we leave, it’s like we’re leaving you behind forever,” Ray sighed, grabbing his shoulder. “I know you’re always with me, but I feel you here, Rose, and I don’t think I can handle losing that part of you.”

Luke really started crying now, “He doesn’t want to move and he’s gonna move for Julie, this poor guy!”

“Oh no, if you cry, I’m going to cry”

Alex mumbled, “How am I the emotional one?” Luke and Reggie ignored him, giving all of their focus to Ray.

“Do you remember when you and Julie wrote your first song together? Carlos kept trying to sing along with his missing teeth and all Victoria and I could do was try to stop laughing. We all danced and sang together for the entire night.”

“Alex, how are you not crying? Luke, do you think we can go visit your parents, see if they’re still around?” 

“Of course, babe! We can check on your parents first, and we’ll go look for yours, too, Alex.”

“Yeah, I think we should leave anyways, this feels kind of… private.”

Reggie turned back to Ray, thinking that what he just heard didn’t seem that private. Then, Ray opened his mouth again.

“And do you remember when your mom took the kids for the weekend and Victoria, you, and I came out here? We finally tried that pyramid thing Victoria read about in that magazine you two loved, you know, the one where my mouth was in your-”

“Yep, definitely private,” Luke said, grabbing Reggie and Alex’s hands as all three boys poofed away to find out what had happened to their loved ones.

* * *

“Please, I promise I can perform, I just had a really rough day yesterday and-”

“Ms. Molina,” the admissions counselor cut her off, “We have had this appointment scheduled for months. You were told when we’d be here and what we were expecting from you. While your pre-screen was certainly impressive, that does not excuse your inability to perform when asked, and we simply do not allow for failure to honor commitments at the University of Southern California.”

“But if you just heard her sing-”

“Ms. Marie, I understand that you have your own audition today, I’d hate to see you ruin your own chances with your inability to respect your superiors.”

Julie grabbed Flynn’s arm. While this man was obviously being a dick, she didn’t want Flynn’s own chances to be ruined. Flynn had been working for this audition for as long as Julie could remember, and she’d spent every moment of the past year preparing both herself _and_ Julie. Julie couldn’t let Flynn ruin this, just so she could defend Julie.

“I understand, sir, and I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us today. I hope that you give Flynn an equal chance, she was just trying to help a friend. Thank you for your time.”

Julie grabbed Flynn’s hand and pulled her out of the office the USC team was commandeering for the week.

“Julie!” Flynn stopped, pulling Julie back to her, “Why didn’t you let me defend you? That guy was an asshole!”

“I know,” Julie agreed, “but no one deserves to go to USC more than you, and I refuse to let my choices ruin that for you.”

“But-”

“No, I will find a way to get that audition back, but I’m not letting you do this for me. I can do this for myself. What I am going to have you do for me is practice your audition one more time. I want to hear the best trumpet playing rapper of all time before she blows the pants off those counselors.”

Julie linked her arm with Flynn’s and pulled her to the rehearsal room. She put on a smile as Flynn practiced her routine, which Flynn called “A Tribute to Black Excellence” and which Julie called “My Best Friend Can Play the Hardest Instrument and Rap Faster than Daveed Diggs”. In her head, however, she was going over what she could do to fix this. Giving up music wasn’t the right choice, she could see that now. She had spent a year ignoring her love of music because of the pain. Then, all of a sudden, her soulmates had shown up and found the song from her mom that literally told her to “use that pain that’s inside of you” and make something beautiful. Why couldn’t they have shown up one day earlier? Why couldn’t she have come out of her depression herself? Why were they the trigger? And what was she going to do about all of these changes?

Julie knew that having music back wasn’t the solution to her problem. She had to figure out how to get an audition with USC. This was important, and she was reclaiming her life from her mental illness, starting with that. She also should probably call her psychiatrist and tell him that the medicine had finally started working, or at least, she was finally letting it work. Dr. Turner always told her that her medicine could only take her so far. It would help regulate her dopamine levels, but only Julie could bring that dopamine back into her life. This, of course, made her hate Dr. Turner because she felt like that was just bullshit. If your medicine didn’t make you better, what was the point of taking it? Of course, now Julie could see that Dr. Turner was right because the medicine had helped regulate her, but Julie could still feel emotions, and keeping herself from feeling them was keeping her from fully recovering.

That brought her back to Reggie and Luke (and to a greater extent, Alex). They were her soulmates but they were dead. Who was she supposed to talk about this with? She could talk to her parents because they had a dead soulmate, but Mom was alive when they met her so it didn’t really feel like the same situation. Plus, they’d probably think something was wrong with her. She could tell Flynn, but Flynn would think she was crazy, call her dad, and soon enough, Dr. Turner would be prescribing antipsychotics. The only living person she could see understanding her was Carlos, but she was afraid he’d also tell their parents and Julie really didn’t want to deal with that. That meant she only had the boys to talk to about the whole situation, and that terrified her most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note on Julie's depression: I have depression. I actually have Borderline Personality Disorder which is a funky mix of depression and anxiety resulting from severe abandonment issues, something I know Julie could suffer from if she didn't have Flynn. I want to acknowledge what I say about Julie's meds, because it's something that me and my therapist and psychiatrist talk about: my meds help my body chemistry regulate itself. However, I still have Borderline, and anxiety, and depression. It's up to me to use my coping mechanisms to work through those feelings that happen, and my medication can only help me so much. I used the terminology I think an 18-year-old would understand and utilize. That being said, if this is not your experience, I totally get it, I just used my own! Thanks!


	6. Girl Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So here's what you missed on Glee: everyone has multiple soulmates, they are triads. Soulmate tattoos go on your shoulders. Sometimes, the soulmates are platonic, sometimes they're romantic, but whoever they are, they are the most important people to you. You also have your friends on one hand, your family on the other, and your elbows belong to your mentors. Reggie and Luke are soulmates and their best friend is Alex. They have a red horse, a blue music note, and a pink ribbon respectively. They died in 1995 at 20 after eating bad hotdogs. They were brought back to Earth in 2020 by Julie Molina, 18, who has a purple rose on her heart. After accidentally summoning them to her garage, they have brought music back into her life. However, Julie's life isn't going to be smooth sailing. She was just rejected from getting a second chance at her college audition, and now she's afraid she won't get into school. Her new friends are having problems of their own, where are their families? And that's what you missed on Glee!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it's been so long, so so sorry. Re-Read this fanfic if you want!

Luke wasn’t really sure why he’d taken them to Reggie’s house first. It wasn’t like Reggie liked his parents. They were awful people who had hated Reggie so much that Reggie didn’t even have any symbols on his hands. When he’d poofed them out of the studio, it felt like this was the place they needed to go to first. Now that he was here, however, he was silently cursing himself. Seeing Reggie’s face as he looked at the bike shack that occupied the place his house used to hold was heartbreaking. Watching Reggie collapse on the sand was even worse.

“Oh Reg, baby, I’m so sorry.”

“Reggie, are you okay?” Alex asked, putting his hand on Reggie’s shoulder.

“I don’t even know,” Reggie sniffled, wiping his nose. “I feel like crying, and I think I am, but I just can’t stop thinking about the fact that, even if I had been alive, this probably still would have happened, because my parents just didn’t care about anything, and they probably would have left the second I went to college and they didn’t have to take care of me anymore.”

Luke and Alex looked at each other. There were two ways they could handle this; one was a blowjob from Luke, and while they both knew that would work short term, that would mean 1) Alex would leave, and they didn’t really want to be apart, and 2) Reggie would be sad again very quickly. That left them with their second option.

“Reggie, baby, you know how loved you are, right?”

Alex put his hand on Reggie’s shoulder. “Reg, I get it, I’m sad too. Everyone is gone. My folks are probably gone, too, and all of our friends, and… and Bobby.”

Reggie and Luke’s heads shot up. “Fuck, Bobby! That vegetarian missed out on hotdogs!” Luke yelled.

Reggie, the empathetic one of the two, took Alex’s hand. “Are you okay? Has anything happened to your mark? Maybe there’s still hope?”

Alex shook his head. “My mark is still there but Bobby’s 45 and I’m a ghost, I don’t think there’s any chance for us now, especially since there was barely a chance for us then.”

Reggie and Luke looked at each other. Sure, they had it rough by losing their parents, friends, and lives, but at least they had each other. Plus, they had met their third who could still see them, even though they were dead. Alex, on the other hand, had lost all of that AND Bobby. Of course, Alex wasn’t going to let that get him down.

“Look, it’s fine, I’m okay. But I just don’t know what we’re going to do now. We have nothing.”

Luke chuckled, “That’s where you’re wrong, dude. We have what we’ve always had: us. We’re the only family we’re ever going to need. Honestly, if I had my guitar right now, today would be a perfect day. I mean, we all have Julie now, we have our music, we have each other. I just wish I had my guitar.”

Of course, Luke’s guitar decided to appear out of nowhere in his hands at that very moment. Luke, Reggie, and Alex stared at the object, shocked.

“How did you do that?” Reggie screamed.

“I don’t know! I mean, I just- I just- I just- wished for it and then it came!”

Reggie held his hands out, mimicking what Luke had done. “I wish I had a puppy,” he cried, though nothing came, “A hamster?”

Again, Reggie was disappointed. Even though he knew Alex had it worse, that didn’t make it any easier for him to accept that nothing he wished for seemed to come true anymore. He collapsed on the sand again, putting his head between his knees. 

One thing Luke and Alex couldn’t stand to see was Reggie sad. Of course, there wasn’t a lot they could do about him being sad when it came to being dead, or to losing his family, or not being able to make puppies magically appear in his hands. However, they could sing, which, of course, is what they did.

* * *

Luke raised his hand. “Hey Julie, what’s in the box?”

“That’s off-limits.”

“Oh, okay, girl stuff.”

“Oooh, like butterflies and glitter?”

Julie and Alex stared at her soulmates. Julie turned to Alex and he just shook his head, silently confirming that she was apparently soulmates with two idiots.

“No, it’s my dream box, yes there is some glitter, I literally don’t want to talk about it. What are you doing in my room?”

The boys stared at each other, trying to find an excuse, resulting in Luke shouting “We were trying to find the kitchen!” This, of course, led to Alex and Julie sharing a look again. Alex was glad, at this moment, that the Being decided that Reggie and Luke were only his best friends because they were way too stupid to be his soulmates. That being said, he did feel bad for Julie, and he tried to placate her a bit.

“Julie, I’m sorry, we realized we could hold our instruments today and we got really excited. So, we wanted to share it with you, only we forgot you weren’t home. We ended up in here and we truly have not seen a bedroom in 25 years-”

“Or been on a bed!” Reggie interjected.

“Or been on a bed, and it was just so nice to be able to be here that we just… stayed. We’re sorry for invading your space, it’s just, I don’t know, you feel like…”

Again, Reggie interrupted, though with Alex’s permission this time. “You feel like home, Julie. We just wanted to be near to you, and this was the closest we could get.”

Julie felt her heart soften. Ever since her mom died, it seemed like the world had turned against her. First, she lost her mom, then her voice, then Carrie, then USC, and it felt like she was about to lose her home, too. Now, in less than 24 hours, she’d found her voice and her mom again. She still wasn’t used to these magical ghost boys who just happened to be her soulmates and make things better because she was so used to everyone making things worse.

She took a deep breath. “Sorry, but I had another bad day and I walked into my room and you all were here and I felt overwhelmed. Sorry-”

“You already said sorry,” Reggie.

“Oh shut up, I just mean… It’s not fair for me to take my frustrations out on you guys. But, you can’t just go into my room when I’m not here!”

Alex glared at the other two. “That’s what I said!” The boys glared back.

“You’re in here, too!”

“Yeah, you were the one picking up Julie’s picture frame!”

“You were WHAT?”

Sheepishly, Alex turned to Julie. “I promise I didn’t break it or anything, I just wanted to see if I could!”

Julie was not placated. “Alex, that’s my favorite photo I have of my mom and my dad took it on film so it’s the only one I have. If you break it, I break you.”

“Well, technically, we are dead so I don’t think you can actually-”

“Not helping, Reginald,” Alex cut Reggie off, “you’re right, sorry Julie.”

They all looked at each other, seeing if things would go back to the ease they had the night before or if they would just spend the rest of their friendship apologizing to each other. That’s when Luke’s charm kicked in. Throwing himself across Julie’s bed, the boy smiled up at her.

“So… how was school? Did you miss us? “

Julie shook her head, but her smile poked through from behind her hair. Reggie and Alex followed suit, and soon she had all three ghosts staring up at her. 

“Ugh, fine! Okay so here’s what happened.”

As Julie told the boys about her failure to get another audition slot, her annoyance with Carrie, and her fears about what she was going to do next year, the boys’ minds were racing. First, they couldn’t believe someone as talented as Julie wasn’t getting another chance to audition for a music program. Then, of course, their minds started to wander. Well, Alex’s stayed with Julie, he was very good at paying attention to one thing at a time. However, Reggie and Luke were not. All Reggie could think about was the multiple ways he could haunt that audition person. Maybe putting cheese in her shampoo? Did they still make cheese-whiz? Wait, what if they didn’t make cheese-whiz anymore? How would people eat cheese out of a can? Was it Cheez Wiz or Easy Cheese-

Luke, on the other hand, was having more practical thoughts: how could he help Julie get her audition back? Was there some way that she could still audition? How would he be able to make sure that scout heard how wonderful her voice was? When Julie mentioned how Carrie got to audition using her pep rally performance, a plan started to formulate in Luke’s head. 

Of course, before he could act on this, Ray walked in. Forgetting they were invisible, all three boys jumped off the bed, fearing what their new friend’s father would think if he saw three twenty-somethings on his daughter’s bed. This resulted in Alex and Luke holding hands and Reggie lying flat on his back behind Julie’s bed. Ray didn’t notice though Julie had to concentrate very hard on what her dad was saying so she wouldn’t laugh out loud. Her annoyance long gone, she shoed her dad out of her room, promising to be down for dinner in a bit, before turning back to her soulmates.

“Look, I want to see you guys as much as possible, I don’t know how and why you’re here, but”, she paused, unconsciously hugging her shoulders to touch Reggie and Luke’s symbols, “you being here is making things better for me. But if you’re going to be here, you can’t just hang out in my room without me. If you want to be in here, I have to be here, too. And now, I have to change.”

Reggie and Luke’s eyes widened, staring straight at their soulmate, thinking she was going to show them-

“Hey, idiots, she means leave. Let’s go!” Alex smacked them on the heads.

“Right, sorry, yeah, we’re leaving!” the pair tripped over themselves, racing out of her room, leaving a laughing Alex and Julie in their wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE, IT'S AN UPDATE!!!! who missed me? I missed me. Here's a hot tip: don't teach fourth grade, you will cry. Also, there was a coup. That was wild. Anyway, I'm back and halfway done with the next chapter so I'm going to post that tomorrow! If you're still with me, welcome back. Also, I love the Shada's but if I hear one more thing about their house and not about the COUP, imma yell.


End file.
